To Whom It May Concern at 107 Steak & Bar,
I am writing this…read moreletter because I am beyond frustrated with the experience I had at your establishment during your so-called "happy hour," and frankly, I don't think "happy" is the right word for anything about what happened to me. I came in expecting a relaxing evening and a fair bill, and instead I left feeling like I had been nickel-and-dimed and taken advantage of, and I am not the type of person who just lets this kind of thing slide.
First, let's talk about the tax situation, because this is where things really started to go wrong. When I got my bill, I noticed that I was charged two separate taxes on my order. Two. Not one, TWO. I don't know if this was a glitch in your point-of-sale system, an error by the server, or some intentional double-dipping happening behind the scenes, but either way, it is not okay. I did the math myself, more than once, because I genuinely could not believe what I was looking at. I am not a tax attorney, but even I know that being charged tax twice on the same items is not normal, not standard, and not something I should have to catch myself. Shouldn't your staff and your systems be checking for this kind of thing BEFORE handing a customer their check? I felt like I had to do your accounting for you at the table, which is not what I came out to do on a Friday evening during happy hour.
Second, and honestly this might frustrate me even more than the tax issue, I was charged an automatic gratuity fee despite being ONE customer. Just me. A party of one. I understand that some restaurants apply automatic gratuity to large parties because splitting a big check and handling a bigger table is more work for the server, and I get that, that makes sense. But I was sitting alone at the bar during happy hour. There was no large party. There was no complicated split. There was just me, ordering my food and drinks like a normal customer, and somehow I still got hit with an automatic gratuity charge as if I had rolled in with a party of twelve. That is not fair, and I don't think it should be the customer's job to cover an automatic fee that was clearly meant for larger groups. If your policy is going to apply gratuity fees regardless of party size, that needs to be disclosed clearly, upfront, before I order, not buried in a bill I only see after the fact.
Honestly, between the double taxation and the unwarranted gratuity fee, I feel like I was charged for things I should not have been charged for, and I think 107 Steak & Bar needs to take responsibility for this. I believe the store, not the customer, should absorb the cost of an automatic gratuity fee when it is mistakenly applied to a single customer's bill. That is a business error, not a customer error, and it should not come out of my pocket.
I am asking for the following:
1. A full refund or credit for the duplicate tax charge on my bill.
2. A refund or removal of the automatic gratuity fee, since I was dining alone and did not agree to or warrant that charge.
3. Some explanation as to how this happened, so I have some confidence this won't happen to me or another customer again.
I really wanted to enjoy my time at your restaurant, and I know mistakes happen, but this is exactly the kind of thing that makes a customer think twice about coming back. I would appreciate a prompt response and a resolution to this matter, because right now I am not a happy customer, and "happy hour" is starting to feel like a bit of a joke.
I look forward to hearing back from you soon.
Sincerely,
A Frustrated Customer
